Lothian (Scottish Parliament electoral region)

Not to be confused with Lothians (Scottish Parliament electoral region).

Lothian is one of the eight electoral regions of the Scottish Parliament. Nine of the parliament's 73 first past the post constituencies are sub-divisions of the region and it elects seven of the 56 additional-member Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs). Thus it elects a total of 16 MSPs. The region is located in the eastern area of the Central Belt of the Scottish Lowlands and is anchored by capital city of Scotland, Edinburgh.

Lothian
electoral region for the Scottish Parliament
Lothian shown within Scotland
Council areas	City of Edinburgh East Lothian (part) Midlothian (part) West Lothian
Population	786,439 (2019)[1]
Current electoral region
Created	2011
MSPs	Scottish National Party 7 Conservative 3 Labour 3 Scottish Green 2 Liberal Democrats 1
Constituencies	Almond Valley Edinburgh Central Edinburgh Eastern Edinburgh Northern and Leith Edinburgh Pentlands Edinburgh Southern Edinburgh Western Linlithgow Midlothian North and Musselburgh
Created from	Lothians

The Lothian region was created as a result of the First Periodic Review of Scottish Parliament Boundaries and largely replaced the Lothians region.^[2]

As a result of the Second Periodic Review of Scottish Parliament Boundaries the region will be replaced by the Edinburgh and Lothians East electoral region for the 2026 Scottish Parliament election.^[3]

Constituencies and local government areas

Constituencies and council areas 2011–2026

Map of boundaries from 2011

Map of boundaries from 2011

As a result of the First Periodic Review of Scottish Parliament Boundaries the boundaries for the region and constituencies were redrawn for the 2011 Scottish Parliament election.

Constituency
Almond Valley Edinburgh Central Edinburgh Eastern Edinburgh Northern and Leith Edinburgh Pentlands Edinburgh Southern Edinburgh Western Linlithgow Midlothian North and Musselburgh

Members of the Scottish Parliament

Constituency MSPs

as Lothians
Term	Election	Midlothian		Edinburgh East and Musselburgh		Edinburgh Central		Edinburgh North and Leith		Edinburgh Pentlands		Edinburgh South		Edinburgh West		Linlithgow		Livingston
1st	1999		Rhona Brankin (Labour)		Susan Deacon (Labour)		Sarah Boyack (Labour)		Malcolm Chisholm (Labour)		Iain Gray (Labour)		Angus MacKay (Labour)		Margaret Smith (LD)		Mary Mulligan (Labour)		Bristow Muldoon (Labour)
2nd	2003										David McLetchie (Conservative)		Mike Pringle (LD)
3rd	2007				Kenny MacAskill (SNP)														Angela Constance (SNP)
as Lothian
Term	Election	Midlothian North and Musselburgh		Edinburgh Eastern		Edinburgh Central		Edinburgh Northern and Leith		Edinburgh Pentlands		Edinburgh Southern		Edinburgh Western		Linlithgow		Almond Valley
4th	2011		Colin Beattie (SNP)		Kenny MacAskill (SNP)		Marco Biagi (SNP)		Malcolm Chisholm (Labour)		Gordon MacDonald (SNP)		Jim Eadie (SNP)		Colin Keir (SNP)		Fiona Hyslop (SNP)		Angela Constance (SNP)
5th	2016				Ash Denham (SNP)		Ruth Davidson (Conservative)		Ben Macpherson (SNP)				Daniel Johnson (Labour)		Alex Cole-Hamilton (LD)
6th	2021						Angus Robertson (SNP)

Regional list MSPs

Elections take place on a whole-region basis: candidates shown in the same column have no particular relationship to each other.

Parliament	MSP		MSP		MSP		MSP		MSP		MSP		MSP
as Lothians
1st (1999–2003)		Robin Harper (Green)		Margo MacDonald (SNP)		Fiona Hyslop (SNP)		Kenny MacAskill (SNP)		David Steel (Lib Dem)		James Douglas-Hamilton (Conservative)		David McLetchie (Conservative)
				Margo MacDonald (Ind)
2nd (2003–07)				Margo MacDonald (Ind)						Colin Fox (Socialist)				Mark Ballard (Green)
3rd (2007–11)								Ian McKee (SNP)		Stefan Tymkewycz (SNP)		Gavin Brown (Conservative)		George Foulkes (Labour)
										Shirley-Anne Somerville (SNP)
as Lothian
4th (2011–16)		Alison Johnstone (Green)		Margo MacDonald (Ind)[a]		Kezia Dugdale (Labour)[b]		Neil Findlay (Labour)		Sarah Boyack (Labour)		Gavin Brown (Conservative)		David McLetchie (Conservative)[c]
			Vacant (April 2014–May 2016)											Cameron Buchanan (Conservative)[c]
5th (2016–21)				Andy Wightman (Green)[d]						Gordon Lindhurst (Conservative)		Miles Briggs (Conservative)		Jeremy Balfour (Conservative)
				Andy Wightman (Ind)[d]		Sarah Boyack (Labour)[b]
6th (2021–)				Lorna Slater (Green)				Foysol Choudhury (Labour)		Sue Webber (Conservative)

• ^[a] As Margo MacDonald was elected as an Independent MSP, there was no mechanism to appoint a replacement; following her death, her seat remained vacant until the Scottish Parliament general election in May 2016.
• ^[b] Stood down 15 July 2019, replaced by Sarah Boyack.
• ^[c] Upon the death of David McLetchie, he was replaced by Cameron Buchanan as the next name on the Lothian regional list for the Scottish Conservatives.
• ^[d] Originally sat as a Scottish Green MSP until December 2020.

Election results

2021 Scottish Parliament election

Constituency results

2021 Scottish Parliament election: Lothian
Constituency		Elected member	Result
	Almond Valley	Angela Constance	SNP hold
	Edinburgh Central	Angus Robertson	SNP gain from Conservative
	Edinburgh Eastern	Ash Denham	SNP hold
	Edinburgh Northern and Leith	Ben Macpherson	SNP hold
	Edinburgh Pentlands	Gordon MacDonald	SNP hold
	Edinburgh Southern	Daniel Johnson	Labour hold
	Edinburgh Western	Alex Cole-Hamilton	Liberal Democrats hold
	Linlithgow	Fiona Hyslop	SNP hold
	Midlothian North and Musselburgh	Colin Beattie	SNP hold

Additional member results

^[4]

2021 Scottish Parliament election: Lothian[5]
List		Candidates	Votes	Of total (%)	± from prev.
	SNP	Graham Campbell, Angus Robertson, Fiona Hyslop, Ben Macpherson, Catriona MacDonald, Sarah Masson, Greg McCarra, Alison Dickie, Alex Orr, Douglas Thomson, Andrew Ewen, Rob Connell	141,478	35.9	0.3
	Conservative	Miles Briggs, Sue Webber, Jeremy Balfour, Rebecca Fraser, Malcolm Offord, Scott Douglas, Gordon Lindhurst, Marie-Clair Munro, Graham Hutchison, Iain Whyte, Callum Laidlaw, Charles Kennedy, Damian Timson	78,595	19.9	3.0
	Labour	Daniel Johnson, Sarah Boyack, Foysol Choudhury, Maddy Kirkman, Nick Ward, Kirsteen Sullivan, Frederick Hessler, Stephen Curran	76,689	19.4	1.4
	Scottish Green	Alison Johnstone, Lorna Slater, Kate Nevens, Chas Booth, Steve Burgess, Alys Mumford, Emily Frood, Ben Parker, Elaine Taylor, Bill Wilson, Evelyn Weston, Alex Staniforth	49,984	12.7	2.1
	Liberal Democrats	Alex Cole-Hamilton, Fred Mackintosh, Jill Reilly, Rebecca Bell, Sally Pattie, Fraser Graham, Caron Lindsay, Bruce Wilson, Charles Dundas	28,433	7.2	1.6
	Alba	Kenny MacAskill, Alex Arthur, Christina Hendry, Irshad Ahmed	6,141	1.6	1.6
	All for Unity	Charlotte Morley, Parvinder Singh, Alan Hogg, Andy Macaulay, David Hamilton, Mike Knox	2,423	0.6	0.6
	Animal Welfare	Vivienne Moir, Gavin Ridley	2,392	0.6	0.6
	Scottish Family	Richard Lucas, Philip Holden, Norman Colville, Gareth Kirk, Amy Ireland	2,041	0.5	0.5
	Women's Equality	Emma Watt, David Renton, Lucy Hammond	1,124	0.3	0.9
	Freedom Alliance	Jon Pullman, Cara Wase, Patricia McCann	922	0.2	0.2
	Abolish the Scottish Parliament	John Leckie, David Nichol	828	0.2	0.2
	Reform UK	Derek Winton, Mev Brown, Iain Morse, Lesley MacDonald	810	0.2	0.2
	Scottish Libertarian	Tam Laird, Cameron Paterson	689	0.2	0.2
	Communist	Matthew Waddell	598	0.2	0.2
	Independent	Ashley Graczyk	430	0.1	0.1
	UKIP	Donald Mackay, John Mumford, Steve Hollis, Kenneth Lowry	420	0.1	1.7
	SDP	Alasdair Young, Neil Manson, Lawrence Edwards	227	0.1	0.1
	Renew	Heather Astbury, Anna Freemantle-Zee	102	0.0	0.0

2016 Scottish Parliament election

In the 2016 Scottish Parliament election the region elected MSPs as follows:

• 6 Scottish National Party MSPs (all constituency members)
• 4 Conservative MSPs (one constituency member and three additional members)
• 3 Labour MSPs (one constituency member and two additional members)
• 2 Green MSPs (both additional members)
• 1 Liberal Democrats MSP (constituency member)

Constituency results

2016 Scottish Parliament election: Lothian
Constituency		Elected member	Result
	Almond Valley	Angela Constance	SNP hold
	Edinburgh Central	Ruth Davidson	Conservative gain from SNP
	Edinburgh Eastern	Ash Denham	SNP hold
	Edinburgh Northern and Leith	Ben Macpherson	SNP gain from Labour
	Edinburgh Pentlands	Gordon MacDonald	SNP hold
	Edinburgh Southern	Daniel Johnson	Labour gain from SNP
	Edinburgh Western	Alex Cole-Hamilton	Liberal Democrats gain from SNP
	Linlithgow	Fiona Hyslop	SNP hold
	Midlothian North and Musselburgh	Colin Beattie	SNP hold

Additional member results

2016 Scottish Parliament election: Lothians
Party		Elected candidates	Seats	+/−	Votes	%	+/−%
	SNP		0	±0	118,546	36.2%	-2.9%
	Conservative	Miles Briggs Gordon Lindhurst Jeremy Balfour	3	+1	74,972	22.9%	+11.3%
	Labour	Kezia Dugdale Neil Findlay	2	-1	67,991	20.8%	-4.1%
	Scottish Green	Alison Johnstone Andy Wightman	2	+1	34,551	10.6%	+3.0%
	Liberal Democrats		0	±0	18,479	5.6%	+0.1%
	UKIP		0	±0	5,802	1.8%	+1.2%
	Women's Equality		0	±0	3,877	1.2%	+1.2%
	RISE		0	±0	1,641	0.5%	+0.5%
	Solidarity		0	±0	1,319	0.4%	+0.3%

2011 Scottish Parliament election

In the 2011 Scottish Parliament election the region elected MSPs as follows:

• 8 Scottish National Party MSPs (eight constituency members)
• 4 Labour MSPs (one constituency members and three additional member)
• 2 Conservative MSPs (two additional members)
• 1 Scottish Greens MSP (additional member)
• 1 Independent MSP (additional member)

Constituency results

2011 Scottish Parliament election: Lothian
Constituency		Elected member	Result
	Almond Valley	Angela Constance	SNP hold
	Edinburgh Central	Marco Biagi	SNP gain from Labour
	Edinburgh Eastern	Kenny MacAskill	SNP gain from Labour
	Edinburgh Northern and Leith	Malcolm Chisholm	Labour hold
	Edinburgh Pentlands	Gordon MacDonald	SNP gain from Conservative
	Edinburgh Southern	Jim Eadie	SNP gain from Liberal Democrats
	Edinburgh Western	Colin Keir	SNP gain from Liberal Democrats
	Linlithgow	Fiona Hyslop	SNP gain from Labour
	Midlothian North and Musselburgh	Colin Beattie	SNP gain from Labour

Additional member results

2011 Scottish Parliament election: Lothians
Party		Elected candidates	Seats	+/−	Votes	%	+/−%
	SNP		0	-3	110,953	39.2	+12.7
	Labour	Sarah Boyack Kezia Dugdale Neil Findlay	3	+2	70,544	24.9	-1.3
	Conservative	David McLetchie Gavin Brown	2	+1	33,019	11.7	-1.5
	Scottish Green	Alison Johnstone	1	±0	21,505	7.6	+0.5
	Independent	Margo MacDonald	1	±0	18,732	6.6	±0
	Liberal Democrats		0		15,588	5.5	-7.3
	Scottish Senior Citizens		0	±0	3,218	1.1	-0.3
	BNP		0	±0	1,978	0.7	-0.2
	UKIP		0	±0	1,822	0.6	+0.4
	Socialist Labour		0	±0	1,681	0.6	-0.2
	Scottish Socialist		0	±0	1,183	0.4	-0.3
	Scottish Christian		0	±0	914	0.3	-0.4
	Liberal		0	±0	697	0.2	±0
	CPA		0	±0	553	0.2	-0.1
	Solidarity		0	±0	327	0.1	-0.9
	Independent		0	±0	294	0.1	N/A
	Independent		0	±0	134	0.0	N/A
	Independent		0	±0	61	0.0	N/A